Bernard Bagnari

British trade unionist and politician

Bernard Augustus Bagnari (1902–1987) was a British trade unionist and politician.

Bagnari was educated in London and in Rome, before becoming a clerk. In 1927, he joined the National Union of Clerks (NUC), and in 1938 he became its London Area Organiser, later being promoted to Area Secretary. He represented the Clerks at the Trades Union Congress (TUC), serving for a period as the TUC's auditor, and during World War II he was vice-chair of the TUC's committee for the mobilisation of labour in London and the South of England. He also worked for the Ministry of Information, and broadcast in Italian to the occupied countries.[1][2]

Bagnari was a strong opponent of fascism,[3] and by the end of World War II, he was also strongly opposed to communism. In 1946, he resigned as the NUC's area secretary, complaining that his work was hampered by communists in the union, and in 1955 he argued in favour of expelling former Revolutionary Communist Party members who had joined the Labour Party.[1][4]

In 1945, Bagnari was elected to Islington Metropolitan Borough Council, representing Canonbury for the Labour Party,[5] and at the 1949 London County Council election, he won a seat in Islington East. He stood for the Labour Party in Tonbridge at the 1951 United Kingdom general election, and in Putney at the 1955 United Kingdom general election, but was unsuccessful.[6] He remained on the county council until its abolition in 1965.

Bagnari devoted more time to trade unionism from the mid-1950s, and from 1960 to 1965, he was the vice-president of the Clerical and Administrative Workers' Union, successor to the NUC.[1] In 1965, he wrote to The Times, arguing that The Beatles should not have received government honours.[7]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c "Association of Professional, Executive, Clerical and Computer Staffs". Trade union ancestors. 10 February 2016. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
2. ^ The Times Guide to the House of Commons. London. 1951. p. 138. `{{cite book}}`: `|work=` ignored (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
3. ^ "The United Front". The Times. 5 September 1935.
4. ^ "Leader of the future". Manchester Guardian. 15 October 1955.
5. ^ "The Municipal Elections". The Times. 3 November 1945.
6. ^ The Times House of Commons. London. 1955. p. 53. `{{cite book}}`: `|work=` ignored (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
7. ^ "Still unrewarded". The Times. 17 June 1965.

Trade union offices

Preceded by

Arthur Lummis Gibson and E. Irwin

|  Auditor of the Trades Union Congress
1935
With:  G. Humphreys  | Succeeded by

Ernest Bussey and John H. Harrison

Preceded by

Ernest Bussey and John H. Harrison

|  Auditor of the Trades Union Congress
1937
With:  Edward Moore  | Succeeded by

Edward Moore and Harry Nutt